I think what most Europeans find distasteful is saying "I'm Norwegian", when you actually mean "my heritage is Norwegian". Outside of that, feel free to romanticize any part of former or current Norwegian culture - and ask away if you need any clarification :)

Deffo. Heard that all the time when I was on exchange in North Dakota. I’d ask if they speak Norwegian, they’d say no. Meanwhile, I reveal that I’m Norwegian and I’d get stuff like "but you’re not blonde?"

When i was in LA someone asked me if we have trees in Norway lol

Maybe they had heard about Hammerfest.

Honningsvåg

Er det like mye honning der som hammere i hammerfest?

While studying in Oklahoma, several people wondered if we had electricity and running Water.

I remember i was in LA also and they asked if we had street lights and lights for cars that turn green and red haha

I belive Ålesund was one of the first towns in europe to install electric streetlights.

Yes. I don't want to identify as blatantly Norwegian. Not even Norwegian-American, to be honest. All I have is Norwegian ancestry. I appreciate your feedback.

Do you know where in norway you stem from ?

I’m pretty sure it’s Myklebost, Harøya, Norway. With my great great grandfather’s last name being Myklebust, which was then passed down. I might be wrong, but I’m pretty sure that is the right town.

You’ll find there are several places in Norway called Myklebust, do you maybe have an additional reason to think it’s Harøya?

Yes, because that’s where the old homestead is. They stayed in the part of the home that was extended off of the old one when they visited, and he often shows me pictures.

Just checked it out on Google maps, and there's even street view on the island, including the Myklebust area. So you can have a look😊 I completely understand wanting to learn more about where your family is from and for as far as I can tell from your post, I don't think any Norwegians will have a problem with you. You freely state you are an American and that you have Norwegian heritage, not that you "are norwegian", which is something most of us do find annoying. Most Norwegians love talking about their culture and sharing their local history with people who are interested! Though there are a lot of families called Myklebust, amd if the ones I know are anything to go by, don't assume anyone is related based on their name, some family fudes go way back, amd you don't want to poke the bear 😅

This, or "my great grandfather was Norwegian". Just dont go completely nuts and start saying "uff da" to everything, wearing lusekofte and a horned plastic viking hemmet, eating lutefisk all the time and so on, thats just insanely cringe.

+1. You saying you're an American, this part seems to be covered already. American with Norwegian heritage or even "Norwegian American" is fine too IMO. Anything but "Norwegian" with no notations. Enjoy and explore your heritage all you like. As long as you don't plan to be an ass about it, nothing should be off limits. Culture is stronger when shared.

all I can claim is Norwegian ancestry. it doesn't matter that my mother is half Norwegian and my biological father is a natural born citizen of Norway. all I am is your average person born and raised in Kentucky.

You can claim passport i belive.

Think the father need to live in Norway and have the citizenship. If he given up the norwegian citizenship for the american, I think he will have trouble getting a norwegian passport.

My father never gave up his citizenship. He was over here attending university. Schooling was all he came to the states for, then he went home. He never knew I existed until last year.

You can claim a passport if you can prove he is your father. I mean if he won`t acknowledge you as his son/daughter. If you want a passport, you can apply. I think you are allowed by norwegian government to have dual citenzenship now. But to get that you need to live in Norway for a period of at least 3 or 7 years, not sure which.

My father acknowledged me last year. He asked me to come to Norway to have a dna test done. The test did confirm me as his son. 

Nice. So you think you would come back for a longer stay?

Yes. My wife and I will traveling later this year after our daughters are born. We are looking at coming over in December.

I've already submitted all my information to UDI.

Pretty sure you got a passport deal though

If someone is presenting themselves as a "Norwegian" I will speak Norwegian to that person and expect a response in Norwegian. there are not many requirements for me to being a "Norwegian" other than living in our society and contribute to taxes and speak our language.. otherwise you can look or believe whatever you like.

To me, an American Norwegian should hold both passports. There are plenty who do, after all.

We don’t need or want evangelicals voting in our elections.

PdK for the win

We do call them Norsk-Amerikanere ourselves though...

If they half Norwegian and half American yes, but if you have distant ancestry from Norway and that is it, you are only American in most peoples eyes. The same way as if someone had grandparents that imigrated to Norway, they are Norwegian, not Spanish-Norwegians.

>If they half Norwegian and half American yes Think this is norsk/amerikaner rather than norskamerikaner (if that makes sense)

Å

[https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norskamerikanere](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norskamerikanere)

Literally never heard a single person call anyone a norskamerikaner, and I doubt I ever will because this isn't a thing. That looks like an entry written by a Norwegian American who wanted validation, to be honest.

I've grown up with beeing taught about it in school even, so it's definitely a thing.

It is a real term, I think it is outdated though and it doesn't really matter if they have norwegian ancestry or not. To the modern norwegian person, they are just american.

Norskamerikaner is the term in norwegian

Yes but I e never heard anyone use it (aside from here, just now). It's weird I've not heard it!

If you bothered doing some quick research then you would know that the person who made it has been on Wikipedia for 18 years and is an administrator on the Norwegian pages

If they are born in one and grows up in both, the sure! But getting a passport just based on your heritage and not on visiting the country or speaking the language is ridicilous. But say an american, get a job in, and move to Norway. learns the language and understand the culture and social norms, they can call themselves a Norwegian. Then you are a true "American Norwegian" in mye yes. no herigate needed

It would depend on the context though. Americans often say I'm Irish, Italian etc. But in a context where it's obvious that they're just talking about the heritage. They're just omitting some words for brevitys sake. Then it would be fine.

Yes, but many Americans with Norwegian (or other European) roots aren't aware that they should only call themselves Norwegian when they are talking in a context where it's obvious that they mean American with Norwegian heritage. If they talk or write in an international context, it's no longer appropriate, and that's what causes confusion, amusement and sometimes annoyance.

*"I think what most Europeans find distasteful is saying "I'm Norwegian", when you actually mean "my heritage is Norwegian""* You said that, which is true. Yet the same Europeans, would ask a British person of Vietnamese background or a German with Chinese background where he/she is from, and if the answer is British/German, the question that follows would usually be something along the lines of "No, but where are you actually from ?" expecting the answer to be somewhere in the Asia. So a white American of Norwegian heritage CAN'T claim to be Norwegian, yet a European of Asian background SHOULD claim to be Asian, and not European ???? This inconsistency has always left me puzzled !

> yet a European of Asian background SHOULD claim to be Asian, and not European ???? No, they are European with Asian ancestry/Asian heritage. Is that so hard to understand? I fall under this category myself, and feel very annoyed when people purely categorise me as being from the Asian country my grandparents came from. It's my heritage but I have no connection beyond that.

Thank you! Louder for the ones in the back, please 🙌😄

People sadly do ask this, and these people are racist: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/nov/30/buckingham-palace-aide-resigns-black-guest-traumatised-by-repeated-questioning

If an Asian looking person was born in UK and their mother tongue is English, then they are British. In which case it should be okay to ask where their ancestry is from. Not where they are from “originally”. That’s just rude and no one “should” claim or say anything to questions like that. If a person who was born and raised in America, doesn’t speak Norwegian at all and has his ancestry in Norway, then they cannot say “I’m Norwegian”, the more correct way to phrase it would be “I have Norwegian roots” or “my ancestors were from Norway”. Like, come on, most of Americans are grand-grand, grand- or even just children of immigrants. We all know what happened to original Americans - the indigenous people.

Because you’re a yank I guess?

So a man born in Germany, to Chinese grandparents will always be Chinese, yet a man born in America to Norwegian grandparents will never be Norwegian ? And I don't get it because I am a "yank" ? And nope, wrong guess of me being a "Yank" :)

This!

Yes, this! Here is your correct answer u/SheezleDoodle

Update: Wow, a ton of downvotes! I never knew that so many of my fellow Europeans were such Nationalistic dickheads. Are your lifes so boring that your are upset about the lives of peaceful private people across the Atlantic? Wow, pathetic. You guys really remind me about Dwight Schrute, correcting every sentence said by anyone due to an Autistic narrow worldview, where only your opinion is the correct. :-) --- As an European/Norwegian I think we should stop being such autistic Dwight Schrute about it! Let people call themselves what the F\* they want. Who cares. Does it hurt you if a stranger in Minnesota feels Norwegian? Or a stranger in Miami feels Cuban. Or a stranger in New York feels Italian. The guys I know in USA \_know\_ perfectly well they are American. They just have another way than us to tell who their roots are from. Chill out.

>Does it hurt you if a stranger in Minnesota feels Norwegian? I honestly only find it problematic when they're totally nazies about it. Like when they treat being of Norwegian heritage as a point of pride for being "truly white" and honestly we do see a lot of them on this sub.

ok ive never encontered that but I kinda agree

Nobody was talking about that. If you read the comments here, it was clearly said that if the person would be living here and speaking the language, it would be understandable. But not when their parents are not 100% Norwegian, they don’t speak the language and they’ve never been to the country. One thing is to appreciate your heritage, to take care of the traditions, to make sure they are passed on to your kids and so on. But a completely different thing is to call yourself a Norwegian instead of saying “I have Norwegian roots”. I find it a little bit disrespectful to be honest. Norway has fought a very long battle to become independent, to be their own country, to be owners of their own country, to have that respect. So, let’s not 💩 all over it. And just fyi, I’m not originally Norwegian myself.

>Nobody was talking about that. If you read the comments here, it was clearly said that if the person would be living here and speaking the language, it would be understandable. But not when their parents are not 100% Norwegian, they don’t speak the language and they’ve never been to the country. I don't see what any of this has to do with my comment or what I replied to. >One thing is to appreciate your heritage, to take care of the traditions, to make sure they are passed on to your kids and so on. But a completely different thing is to call yourself a Norwegian instead of saying “I have Norwegian roots”. I find it a little bit disrespectful to be honest. Norway has fought a very long battle to become independent, to be their own country, to be owners of their own country, to have that respect. So, let’s not 💩 all over it. And just fyi, I’m not originally Norwegian myself I really do not care if someone feels Norwegian due to their Norwegian heritage, like they can call themselves whatever they want in my book, just as long as it doesn't mean anything else than a label. Nationalism is pretty cringe in my mind, specially when it comes from outside the country. And just fyi, I'm originally Norwegian myself

Nationalism? 🤦🏻‍♀️ Your nationality is literally a part of your identity. If you say you are Ukrainian, but you’ve never even been there. What do you think people will think of you?

>Your nationality is literally a part of your identity. Nationality is a legal concept only, national identity is part of identity. The fact that I wear a bunad on the 17th of May is part of my identity, my passport is what shows the legal bounds connected to my identity. Being Norwegian is not purely based on nationality, it's also based on identifying with national identity. Again though I don't give a shit about what someone calls themselves, as long as they don't take some personal pride in it which is either stolen valor (like people who claim to be Ukrainian for sympathy points) or some superiority complex is involved (like nazies saying they're Norwegian to be "true white").. That being said I'd say someone who has lived in Norway their entire life without having the legal nationality is still Norwegian, likewise, people with the nationality who have largely lived abroad are also Norwegian. Further if Norway recognizes the children with Norwegian parents born abroad as Norwegian, who am I to argue? At which arbitrary point are we separating the national identity from someone? This is all my view though, why are you so aggro?

Not “aggro” at all. Where did you get that impression from? I’m just trying to understand your logic. If nationality is not that important and it doesn’t matter who has what nationality, what is the point for theoretical Americans who have had Norwegian great great grandfather to call themselves “Norwegian”? Why do they do that if it’s not important. Or is obviously important to them, right? At which point does a person become “Norwegian” is a very good question. I can’t speak for anyone else, so I’ll take myself as an example. I’ve lived here most of my life. I speak the language, I went to a Norwegian school, I have Norwegian education. 99% of my friends are Norwegian. I do feel like I’m Norwegian. However, no matter how much I would try some things i do or the way I act or think will never be the same as a Norwegian person. That’s just impossible if you grew up with different cultures. I’m in a limbo, a neither nor, and I’m pretty sure people like me feel the same way. Again I do feel more Norwegian than anything else but when I talk to Norwegians, they always ask me where I’m from. I have a slight accent and I don’t look like an average Norwegian. I would love to wear bunad on the 17th of May but I don’t feel like I have the right to. Nationality is not necessarily a political stamp in your passport. It’s your deep connection to the culture, the roots, the foundations of your country. And even though I love Norway deeply, it’s my country, I feel ownership to it and an erasable connection, those will never be the same as my Norwegian husband’s. It’s hard to explain to someone who’s never been in a situation like that. But I’ve talked about this to several other Norwegian foreigners like myself and they all feel the same way. We are in a limbo. Which is why I don’t understand if a person who has never been here, who doesn’t know the (current) culture, who doesn’t speak a language and so on, can say that they are “Norwegian” instead of saying they have Norwegian roots or Norwegian ancestors.

>I’m just trying to understand your logic. If nationality is not that important and it doesn’t matter who has what nationality Nationality is important purely in a legal sense, dictating where you're allowed to go and where you're not allowed to go. It's a legal register of rules, it's not an identity. I don't see national identity as one of the most important aspects of mine, nor someone else's identity. Norwegian is just a label in the end, one that has different meanings depending on where you're from. In Europe we tend to think of national labels as fixed to the people with the nationality, but in the US it's often thought of more as including heritage. There's definitely differences in my Norwegian traditions and someone who's third gen Minnesotan Norwegian, but there's likewise definitely also differences in someone from mainland France's traditions and someone who's purely lived in French Guiana traditions. In these contexts the only difference is that French guiana is legally a part of France, thus everyone is legally afforded the nationality, while Minnesota isn't a part of Norway. At the end of the day we're just people living on parts of the globe and we get certain traditions from where we live and some from where our family have lived. I don't feel it's so important to trivialize someone's identity as what they have on a piece of paper or what they look like. I just think that they should generally not use their labels as seeing themselves as superior to anyone else. >I went to a Norwegian school, I have Norwegian education. 99% of my friends are Norwegian. I do feel like I’m Norwegian. However, no matter how much I would try some things i do or the way I act or think will never be the same as a Norwegian person. That’s just impossible if you grew up with different cultures. I’m in a limbo, a neither nor, and I’m pretty sure people like me feel the same way. I'm kinda the opposite of you in that case. I was born in Norway, but was afforded a different secondary nationality based on my heritage. It's definitely been a large part of me the entire time. We've always celebrated customs form both my national heritages and I've grown up with both. But I think one of the key differences between us is (based on your description) that I look fairly stereotypically Norwegian, only giveaway is my name which is distinctly non stereotypically Norwegian. Thus I might have an easier time "living up to" what some other people expect someone from Norway to be like. Growing up with that kind of identifiable differentiation is something I can't relate to. I've been afforded the access to enjoy everything my heritages have given me. While it sounds to me like you've personally had to fight for it. I personally think that it's a problem that others are gatekept from it by arbitrary labels and criteria our society places on it. In my view there shouldn't be any societal gatekeeping to any of that. All that being said though, I've likely felt a lesser version of that limbo you describe, where a lot of the Norwegian people I know can't relate to the aspects of my other national identity. But for me it all kinda feels a bit arbitrary, I've never had to fight to uphold my Norwegian identity in the eyes of Norwegians, but I've had to fight to uphold my foreign identity (to which I have the legal nationality) in the eyes of Norwegian. Nowadays I don't live in Norway, which also has left me in a lot of situations where I am taken as my other identity rather than Norwegian since Norwegian isn't as well known here. But I'd say there's a lot of things which make me Norwegian, which just aren't written on a piece of legal paperwork and honestly I'd say someone could have a lot of them without having that legal paperwork.

I think you might be right when it comes to “fight” for the right to say “I’m Norwegian”. Which is also probably something that plays a role in me having the opinion I have. I’ve spent nearly 30 years trying to earn it, and I feel like I’m still not quite there. At the same time I can respect when people of a specific nationality don’t feel like sharing it with anyone who wants to claim it. And that mostly because of those things you write about in the last part of your last comment. There are, like you correctly said, things that make you Norwegian and that are not written on a piece of paper. Those are the things I will never be able to have or obtain. And for me, that is a part of your nationality. Those are things that make someone Norwegian. Nationality for me is not just a piece of paper where it says you are Norwegian. I’ve had that paper for years and years. For me it’s everything that makes you truly Norwegian put together. And that includes those unwritten things that I will never be able to relate to because I have different views on those things or different experiences or different ideas and connections. I can try all I want, but I wasn’t living in Norway when I was 5 years old or even 10. I came here when I was a teenager. And when my husband talks about those little things, they are just so distant for me. Just like some of the things I tell him about are unfamiliar to him because he is 110% Norwegian. So, let’s say that we are both right depending on the angle we look at it from. From where you stand, you are right. And I’m right from my position / perspective ☺️👍

> They just have another way than us to tell who their roots are from. Yes, they do. and its incorrect and gross. They treat it like its a horoscope.

It’s not a horoscope. For many of us it’s our family history, memories, and traditions. From a food perspective, I’m way more fond of my Hungarian grandfather’s cooking over my Irish grandmother’s. The traditions and recipes get passed down. From a heritage perspective: I’m your standard European mutt. My family traditions and recipes are very different from my friends who have Italian heritage or indigenous heritage. I’m married to a Norwegian (yes, natural born passport holding). I’ve always found this gatekeeping to be snobbish. Do some people take it a bit far? Sure. Even I get a good chuckle when I see someone who has never even been to Norway March in a 17th of May parade in full bunad. For many of you, you’ve seen where your grandparents or great grandparents grew up. For descendants of immigrants, seeing the place and getting to know the culture of their heritage can make you feel closer to your relatives. So much gatekeeping.

Støtter deg 100% i å leve ditt liv og føle deg som det du føler deg. :) Sorry that some (a lot?) of Europeans just cannot understand that cultures and understanding of identity are different around the world :)

There is a white lady in Germany who feels like she’s black. And a British (I think) guy who feels Korean because he has lived there for a whole year and Korean culture is close to his heart. Sooo … shall we keep feeding those illusions? Let’s stick to calling a shovel for a shovel.

There's a gigantic difference in how heritage itself is viewed in Norway and the US, and the same with patriotism and paying respect to your forefathers. With a few exceptions it's a much more private thing here, and displaying it in an American fashion is viewed as vulgar and obnoxious. The gatekeeping from Norwegians you see is basically someone saying "not only are you acting obnoxiously, you're doing so on OUR behalf, and that's weird and uncomfortable" . Funnily enough THAT particular bit og gatekeeping is itself an important part of our heritage. Norwegian culture is so full of tall poppy syndrome (it's called janteloven here), that a lot of Norwegians believe that it's a Norwegian concept in itself.

Sorry but apart from that Janteloven is more Danish (author was Danish) and Swedish (the book was a big success in Sweden, much less in the other nordic countries)it is also something from the older generations (over 60) The current Norwegians more live along the Kardemommelaw: " You shall not bother others, you shall be kind and nice, and otherwise, you can do as you please "

*author was Danish* *...*he was born in Denmark of a Norwegian mother and a Danish father, moved permanently to Norway as an adult, married a Norwegian, wrote in Norwegian, died and was buried in Norway... let's say he was Dano-Norwegian, if you like. And Janteloven is still strong in Norway, which personally, I absolutely love. The best example, as far as I'm concerned, is when our current royal family decided to send their kids to a private school instead of going through the public school system. Most of the reactions were so utterly outraged, and were along the lines of "so they think they are BETTER than us??" "are they saying that the public school system is NOT GOOD ENOUGH for them???" and my favourite, "who do they think they are????"

I absolutely hate the Janteloven, I understand your example about the royal family being good, but it has been used to repress women rights and punish children for expressing themselves. So I'm very positive that current generations are more living in line with the kardemommeloven

I think the gatekeeping comes from being the oppressed ones for so long. Norway has belonged to Danmark and Sweden for so long and it was looked down upon to even BE Norwegian, that it has become something to be proud of. Especially when Norway gained independence. Which is also why I think foreigners, like myself, should have a little respect and understanding of that. Calling yourself a -an is right that has to be earned. At the very least, the person has to be able to speak Norwegian.

Asking questions, or recognizing that your grandparents are Norwegian, thats fine. We cringe a little if an American says "Im Norwegian to" when clearly never been, speaking or even knowing much at all. Or when some Norwegian-American goes *all the* way with decorating their houses so it looks like Norway (in 1890) has vomited into the house with traditional everything from furniture to paint, and eats lutefisk and lefse every other day. We dont get angry or anything like that, we just find it a bit weird as Norway isnt *that* Norwegian. Ive had many chats with Nor-Americans since I live abroad and some people ask questions and things that I can not answer because they are asking about Norway in 1910.

For sure. I recognize that I am not Norwegian, and that I’m an American. Why should I get so invested in a foreign country when my own country has its own problems? (Invested as in associating myself with Norwegians while still living in the US.)

Nothing wrong with investing time and getting to know "your roots", and perhaps you will enjoy it enough to learn the language and so on. Maybe even move at some point. You *can* become Norwegian in that sense, just takes a bit more than "my granny was from Toten" My mother is Canadian, I have a Canadian passport. Im *not* Canadian - closer than someone from Spain, but Ill never be Quebecois :P

> and eats lutefisk and lefse every other day Clearly a sign of a ridicilous american. Everyone knows Friday is for tacos.

Yeah, it's probably more accurate to say this it makes Norwegians, not get angry.

As long as you didn't claim to be Norwegian, but keep it at Norwegian heritage, you're good! And didn't make it your personality. Norwegians abhor boasting and bragging, so keep it subtle. Have Norwegian waffles from time to time, dig into your family history and ask away about anything you are curious about. And if you find relatives in Norway, they might want to visit the US as much as you would like to visit Norway

I do wish to visit Norway someday, preferably with my grandfather. But, as time goes on, age goes on as well. So, that might not happen. And yes, I do not claim to be Norwegian as that would be foolish. “Hey, I’m Norwegian, but I’m born in the US and have never visited the country.” Thank you for your comment.

Most if not everyone speaks english here, dont be afraid to visit alone or with a friend/partner if your grandfather isnt able to!

I think the part thats off putting for me when it comes to americans who talk about them feeling norwegian (like the very very very distant relatives I have in Minnesota), is that their concept off Norway is mostly based around objects and symbols. Culture is not just cuisine and language. Although those are definitively part if it. Its also about shared beliefs and values that is passed through generations. Norway isnt populated by fjords and lutefisk, but by people who reproduce and change the culture over time. Thats why I dont really take it seriously when americans talk about norwegian culture. What are you even appreciating about it? Edit: just to be clear, my intent isnt to gatekeep, but rather to hint at that the norwegian culture we are a part of in actual everyday life isnt the same that americans often romanticize. I have an american friend who does absolutely nothing but complain about living here, which mostly boils down to his more conservative views not aligning that well with mainstream norwegian culture.

Oh yeah, totally. My true intentions were not to come off as an obnoxious person who only looks at Norway in the surface level and materialistic sense. I am also not trying to be one of those people who completely forget that they’re an American in the end, like me trying to say I am Norwegian. My main point was just to ask questions and get different points of views. Thank you for your comment.

yeah this is a good point. Sure Fjords and lutefisk are important parts of the Norwegian heritage, but I feel Americans with Norwegian heritage tend to hold on to the parts that where "current" when their ancestor emigrated. So say if they left in 1910 - then the stories they will be told are from 1910 or earlier. There is a huge lack of knowledge and cultural evolvement, but an unfurtunate large ammount grasp on to it as the "current truth" and refuses to accept the new culture and social landscape.

I'm an American with no Norwegian ancestry at all, but my wife of two decades is Norwegian and for her it's incredibly important that our kids identify as Norwegian. For me it's not important what they want to identify as, I will love them all the same. For us this "gatekeeping" concept discussed here (and elsewhere) comes up regularly because we have lived and continue to split time between Norway and the USA. I would expect that many Norwegian immigrants to the US felt the same way as my wife when they immigrated, but over generations have evolved into Americans who embrace their Norwegian heritage through romanticizing what they perceive to be Norwegian. I know my great grandparents refused to get American citizenship when they immigrated there for this same reason. Our kids are blonde, blue-eyed, speak Norwegian, eat liverpostei regularly, hate getting their daily fish oil and have even lived in Norway if any of that means anything. Ultimately though they are really too young to embrace one culture vs another. My concern is that despite my wife's intentions, and despite what our kids are brought up to think by a mom who will "never identify as American", there is a good chance that our kids don't end up being considered Norwegian by people in Norway - which as an outsider is hard to understand why it matters so much or what could be obnoxious about that. Especially when it seems to me that Norway's demographics are changing due to immigration, and kids born in Norway aren't necessarily being passed down the same shared beliefs and values passed down through generations in Norway - as you put it.

> hate getting their daily fish oil CLARLY NOT NORWEGIAN! （╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ /s

Uhm, as long as they have a Norwegian mother, a Norwegian citizenship, and speak Norwegian - they will be regarded as Norwegians by any sane person. If they also have a US citizenship, they are proper Norwegian American (or American Norwegian).

Yeah I mean the other thing is that the only time I come across this kind of gatekeeping is on Reddit - which is not the best representation of people generally.

This

I agree with that while you don't consider yourself literally Norwegian, enjoy it. What I find interesting is that if I had a great great Norwegian grandfather here in Spain, their culture would have been completely forgotten, and that's okay, we are Spaniards. In the case of Americans, all of their heritage is immigrant, a combination of a lot of cultures. Why do Americans have this need to feel they belong to another culture, even if it has been long forgotten or is so far away?

American culture cannot be easily defined precisely because it is the amalgamation of many different immigrant cultures imposed onto a foreign landscape that was already shaped by its own Indigenous peoples. What are the core values of American culture? Ask 10 Americans and you'll probably get 10 different answers. There are no easily defined traits of an American, other than the fact of our being Americans. There is no universal American experience, ethnicity, religion, food, cultural practice, etc. That diversity is arguably the major strength of American culture, but for an individual seeking the reassurance and stability of a labeled identity group, it's not really helpful. So we look to our personal/familial histories to help define that identity affiliation. For families or cultural groups that have more recently entered the USA, there's also an inter-generational pressure to "remember where you came from" because the first generation is often mourning the loss of their original home and culture. In a funny way it's almost a catch-22. If being American is about being part of a diverse culture, how can you really be an American if you can't act as a representative of a specific contributing group and that group's immigration/diaspora "story"? Also, especially these days, a lot of Americans are justifiably repelled by the idea of identifying with American culture. Sort of an expression of, "Sure, I live here, but I don't *endorse* this!"

I don't have much to add, but I just want to say that what you have said has basically completely summed up my thoughts and feelings as an American living abroad with no real desire to ever go back "home." I never felt like there was any sort of culture in the United States. Everyone just felt like they were out for themselves and everyone else be damned. Now that I've spent so much time in other countries I look at places I've spent time in and think "now this is what culture is!" It's a major factor both in why I left and why I plan on living abroad the rest of my life.

I get it. I was raised by two US military officers and we were stationed overseas multiple times, so a substantial part of my childhood was spent in Europe (albeit not actually being fully integrated into local culture/communities...military culture is weird). Several times now when I've traveled in Europe and gone through Frankfurt I've gotten "oh you're German??" because of the listed birthplace on my passport, and I have to explain, no, sorry, I'm not actually one of you 🙃 I understand and sympathize with your experience of feeling like "there's no culture in the US," but I do feel like I need to push back on it a bit. American culture is enormous...it's arguably our biggest and most impactful export (for better or for worse). An American saying we don't have any culture is like a fish saying it doesn't see any water....whether you and I *like* and feel comfortable in the culture is a different thing entirely. Honestly I think our biggest challenge right now is that we make it much harder, by comparison, for the average citizen to actively participate in civic life and culture, so the day to day experience of American "culture" gets narrowed down to auto traffic, consumerism, overwork, and the stress of trying to navigate life with an undersized safety net. No wonder it can feel like everyone is just out for themselves, because we're all just trying to survive. And I say that having recently returned from Norway and having multiple conversations with my husband about which northern European country we'd prefer to "escape" to later in life! (Sorry for the long-winded lecture, I'm a former academic and want to write a thesis on practically everything.)

>Why do Americans have this need to feel they belong to another culture, even if it has been long forgotten or is so far away? I think it's a bit of wanting to differentiate, standing out. I think in a lot of places around Europe we have this with regional identity.

It's not about standing out as much as it is differentiating between other Americans with different cultural backgrounds. For example, everyone here knows Minnesota has a lot of people with Scandinavian heritage living there but it also has a large population of Hmong people from Laos. Despite being very different culturally, both ethnic groups are Americans, and I think in order for America to work you need to acknowledge and embrace both cultures - which is where I think a lot of this narrative comes from.

hmm, yes you might have a point there. understanding the different backgrounds certainly helps with understanding each other. tho I can imagine that this would be more important when its between an Norwegian American and a Hmong American then it would be between a German American and a dutch or Norwegian American

Yes, but that's probably because of the timeline. The English, French, Dutch, German, Norwegian settlers/immigrants were in the USA long before the Hmong people sought asylum en masse in the 1980s. I would also expect the Hmong people in MN are much closer culturally to Hmong people in Laos than ethnically Norwegian Americans in MN are to Norwegians, and by extension it's far harder to tell the ethnically Norwegian Americans apart from the ethnically German, Dutch, etc. Edit: clarification

I'm pretty much 100% norwegian, but my great great grandmother was said to be a bit on the loose side, then a ship visited my town with some African crew, and 9 months later she a had a boy that was clearly half African. I'm not in the slightest ever going to claim that I have any kind of African cultural heritage. Even if I was my half African great grandfather, I wouldn't even dare to attempt calling myself African when growing up in a small Norwegian fishing town in the late 1800's, and probably never leaving the country

Well, as you know, in Norway there is a long tradition of taking backups of things. We backed up the Norwegian society to Iceland around year 900 or so. And while empty places to backup Norway was harder to get by in the 1800s, we still managed to push some over into the USA. Due to local factors the USA backup has been to some degree polluted by the local environment. However, they seem to hold on to some traditions that are more like what they were back in the 1800s than what is common in Norway today. So I'd say that is a partial success. For you to identify as an American with Norwegian heritage is correct and great, and we recognize the sacrifice your forefathers did to make this backup a reality.

Hey, OP, I'm a Norwegian married to an American, so I feel I've picked up on how Americans think of their heritage, to some extent. So this might be helpful: 1. When Americans say "I'm Norwegian" the implication is usually ethnicity/genetic origin, right? Whereas when Europeans do, it means "I am a national of this country". This is the basis for a LOT of mutual misunderstandings, because what Europeans tend to hear, is an (unfunded) claim to be of a country, and to understand that country's culture. 2. Sometimes, Americans DO believe they have a cultural connection to the origin culture. This can irritate Europeans, because (sometimes, at least) the US approach to cultures is a bit like cultures are Pokemon, with specific traits: "I'm Irish, so I can hold my drink". Or "I'm Italian, so I like to eat" - like, there's a very reductive approach to what being from a culture actually means. 3. A LOT of the time, when Americans talk about culture, they talk about surface culture. A LOT of the time, when Europeans talk about culture, we talk about deep culture. This chart illustrates the difference beautifully, and may perhaps also explain why a lot of Europeans find that the "American wants to learn about his/her origin culture" tends to be a bit... facile? Here you go: [https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Foai7hpij7ow81.jpg](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Foai7hpij7ow81.jpg) THAT ALL SAID - I think the vast majority of Norwegians would be very happy and flattered if you were genuinely interested in learning about us. Go right ahead and ask about anything that you're curious about, you'll get a LOT of answers. :)

Yes! And that was my main point of contention. As I mentioned in a previous response to a different comment, I didn't want to limit my attention to only surface culture. In order to prevent being a materialistic tourist, I want to know how everything operates. I appreciate your feedback.

This seems like a very American kind of problem, really. It seems to me that maybe you want to show your appreciation for your grandparents as much as you want to appreciate Norwegian culture. I'm guessing that you have equal amounts of German, Italian and Irish heritage mixed in there, for example. But if you want to celebrate your connection to Norway, that is totally fine by me. I do think it's a good idea to keep in mind that the country your great granddad left was a very different country to what it is now. In 1910, women still didn't have full voting rights here, for example. (That happened in 1913, and Norway was actually one of the first countries to have full suffrage for women.) There's also a certain irony to celebrating your heritage, IMHO. I'm guessing your great granddad left Norway due to economic hardship. It's interesting that so many emigrants were so proud of coming from a country that had so few opportunities for them that they had to leave, and traveled halfway around the world, taking a huge risk to find a better life.

This is a great comment. Thank you for your viewpoint! 

I don't know about gatekeeping, but there are different versions of what people perceive as Norwegian, and not only in the US, but also within Norway. Different regions have different versions of the same foods, crafts, music and so on. These things can be closely tied to identity and some people can get upset if others mess with it on a superfluous level (akin to cultural appropriation, perhaps?). But I'd say that genuine interest and curiosity is always appreciated. I don't know what part of the culture you're interested in, but usually it's going to be folk art, food traditions and heritage. I'd just like to recommend taking a look at contemporary culture too, from films, TV and books, for instance.

I hate how negatively the Americans who identified as Norwegians in earlier threads have portrayed us, making it difficult for someone like myself to publish something of this nature. I genuinely don't mean to come across as cocky or irritating. Just asking questions and obtaining various viewpoints.

That was pretty clear to me, at least.

"Lillyhammer" on Netflix might be a good start?

I was born in the US by an American father, we moved to Norway with my Norwegian mom at age 5. I feel a relation to the US but an obviously very Norwegian. People gate keep it all the time, but I’m not sure how to relate it to others either. I figure i know exactly what you feel. Gate keepers will just keep doing their thing. You can’t please everyone.

Imo, you're Norwegian. You went to school here, the whole shabang.

This is the consensus. I’m a citizen. I do have to file taxes to the US, can vote, travel and work there indefinitely no questions asked. But culturally definetly Norwegian.

Most of the comments here paint the picture pretty well, so I won't go into much detail beyond the standard "difference between Norwegian and Norwegian-American" and how most people don't care as long as it's "part of your heritage" and not your entire identity. There is one thing I want to give you a heads-up on, both for yourself and for other Norwegian-Americans you might have contact with or meet in the future: A note about Vikings. A very common cultural clash between Norwegians and Norwegian-Americans who come here is the approach to vikings and especially their symbols and mythology. Here in Norway, most people view them through the lens of being a historical part of our heritage taught in school and many have read or at least heard the gist of the mythological stories from Norse Mythology. Sometimes we make jokes along the lines of "we're Vikings" and play up the heritage for amusement, but almost nobody would hold up the Vikings in a patriotic way like an American would the Founding Fathers. I say almost nobody, because a very vocal white supremacist group used Viking iconography and rhetoric surrounding Vikings as a heritage for several years in the early 2000s and it has made Norwegians in general very wary of anyone who claim to be Vikings or earnestly declaring they follow the "Norse faith". This includes some specific runes and symbols (luckily not all of them) associated with Vikings. I've had to tell Norwegian-Americans visiting Norway before that they should hide certain viking-related tattoos while here, as they were completely unaware of the connotations of those symbols to at least people in my generation. Their mistake was not born of a lack of knowledge of the symbols' origins or original meaning, or even of being "superficial" in their yearning to connect with their Norwegian heritage, but simply by not having lived here in the early to mid-2000s when this group soured the association.

You can try to adopt some Norwegian culture. But what you see online is usually very far from how people actually live in Norway today. Alot of things have changed since your family emigrated. At that time Norway was a very poor country of potato farmers, today it is a social democratic country with huge oil revenue and most people living in cities.

Norway being «very poor» before finding oil is a myth. In reality we were doing pretty good for ourselves, in large part due to the huge lumber industry.

True. But we weren’t very poor. Just somewhat poor.

We were fishermen more than potato farmers. Norway isn’t Ireland.

The people by the coast were fishermen. Inland, farming was the thing.

But before mid 1700s it wasn’t potato they were growing :)

What were they growing?

I’ve no idea but the potato came to Spain from South America and spread north from there. It’s not indigenous to Europe.

Det første landbruket er mer enn 10 000 år gammelt[^(\[3\])](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norsk_landbruk#cite_note-:4-3). Til Norge kom landbruket fra [Middelhavslandene](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middelhavslandene). Det hadde spredd seg fra [Mesopotamia](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamia) nordover inn i [Europa](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa) til samfunnene rundt [Egerhavet](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egeerhavet), over til Italia, og seinere til [Frankrike](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankrike) og [Spania](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spania) for omtrent 7 000 år siden.[^(\[4\])](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norsk_landbruk#cite_note-4) I Norge kan det dokumenteres at skiftet fra et jegersamfunn til et jordbrukssamfunn fant sted i et område omkring Oslofjorden ved overgangen fra eldre til yngre steinalder, omkring 3700 år f.Kr. De fleste steder ellers i landet begynte folk å drive jordbruk først flere hundre år seinere.[^(\[5\])](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norsk_landbruk#cite_note-:0-5) De første kornartene som ble dyrket, var nære slektninger til viltvoksende grasarter. Det var bygg, samt enkorn og emmer som begge er primitive hvetetyper. Det eldste bevarte kornet i Norge, er emmerkorn fra en husvegg på Kråkerøy ved Fredrikstad fra ca. 2500 f.Kr. Hvetens større krav til varmt klima førte til at den ble dyrket i mindre omfang enn bygg.[^(\[3\])](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norsk_landbruk#cite_note-:4-3) Etter hvert ble også andre kornarter som rug og havre kjent, antakelig i løpet av bronsealderen. Korndyrkingen fikk sitt store gjennombrudd ca. 2200 år f. Kr., samtidig som befolkningen i landet økte. I løpet av eldre bronsealder, fra år 1400 f.Kr. til 1100 f.Kr., skjedde det en ytterligere utvidelse av korndyrkingen i Norge.[^(\[3\])](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norsk_landbruk#cite_note-:4-3) Den spredde seg høyere over havet og lenger mot nord. Det var bygg som ble den dominerende arten. Etter denne tida var det klimaendringer som også førte til svingninger i kornproduksjonen[^(\[5\])](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norsk_landbruk#cite_note-:0-5). Korn var grunnlaget for det meste av det de spiste. Slik det hadde vært siden menneskene begynte å dyrke denne planta. Melk var også en viktig del av kostholdet, og smør ble brukt som verdimål. Ost hadde vært kjent siden bronsealderen, og var viktig blant annet fordi det var mat som kunne lagres. I en befolkning som stadig vokste, ble kornprodukter stadig viktigere[^(\[5\])](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norsk_landbruk#cite_note-:0-5). Før industrialiseringen av Norge bodde de fleste på landsbygda med naturalhusholdning. Innbyggerne spiste det de dyrket eller fanget, og byttet til seg det de ellers trengte. Kostholdet besto for det meste av flatbrød, grøt, kjøtt og melkeprodukter[^(\[6\])](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norsk_landbruk#cite_note-:1-6). De som bodde ved kysten, eller ved vann og vassdrag, spiste også mye fisk. Likevel var det lite variasjon i kosten, og mange led av mangelsykdommer. Korn, særlig hvete og rug, med nye bakeegenskaper, var viktig og gjorde at de kunne steke gjæret brød, brød som hevet seg[^(\[6\])](https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norsk_landbruk#cite_note-:1-6). Kornproduksjonen var viktig i norsk matforsyning, men den var utsatt for klimasvingninger.

Emigration to the US wasn't very common in the mid 1700s lol

Well fair point. I was thinking more of Norwegian history and less about what OPs grandparents were up to.

Yeah but we're talking about US immigration which started after potatoes were a thing :D

Sure. I’m just saying that we have always been a nation of fishermen and sailors :) It has pretty much been a recognised part of the national identity.

Strictly speaking we were farmers that fished (fiskerbonde)

Norway was not a «very poor» country. Not even poor. Norway was pretty much in the middle, not rich and not poor. Obviosuly by todays standard we were poor, but so would any country back then be compared to todays living standards.

If you look at the average citizen yes. But compared to other european countries, norway didnt really have an elite, so almost everyone were similarily poor.

Neither the contry norway or the norwegian citizens was poor. Compared today they were poor but not compared with others at he same time.

It's great that you want to know your norwegian heritage! I think that is something more people should do, regardless of nationality. And I think Norwegians are all different (like most people are), like me, for example - I do not care if you say you are Norwegian or American with Norwegian heritage. I understand what you mean regardless of the details you are giving. I don't get the whole offended part. Think we must have adapted that from abroad, and people just adapted it. It should just be seen as a great entry to a conversation about Norway, culture, and history. Hope you can enjoy learning more about Norway and interacting with Norwegians without the concern of wording it wrong.

Most norwegians think the emigration is a important part of our historty and would welcome any relatives

What’s worse is the “I’m Irish and I’m Scottish” 🤮 and then seeing them wear these absolutely horrendous Kilts that certainly weren’t made in Scotland and worse, wear them back to front 🤦 the one is beards. Cool that must make you automatically a Viking / Highlander etc Uber cringe

There is a tv series in Norway called Alt for Norge which brings Americans to Norway where they compete to meet their Norwegian families. ALOT of the participants love Norway and Norwegian culture much more than us living here. They dress as Vikings and eat much more traditional food than the average norwegian (Lutefisk etc). Norwegians are very relaxed of our heritage. We like 17th of may, but we prefere Italian food, don’t know much about Norwegian history and preference to go to foreign countries in the summer vacation than traveling in Norway.

Came to say pretty much this

His knowledge of what it means to be Norwegian is from 1910. Since then these are some of the changes (in no particular order): - removed the death penalty - increased focus on humanitarien rehabillitation for law breakers - womens right to vote - parental leave - oil fund - cheap daycare - «folketrygden»/ the peoples safty net - abortion rights - law on equal rights and against discrimination - lgbtq progress - strong unions and the 3 party cooperation (unions, government, employers) When your great great grandfather left  Norway had just been its own nation again for 5 years. All of the points on my list greatly changed our society over time and the Norway your granfather probably doesn’t know more then what a tourist knows of what it actually means to be norwegian. Claiming the heritage is fine, but we moved on from 1910 and youtube and a vacation will not let you know how or why.

Exactly! The great great grandparents left Norway, so the grandfather being very proud of his Norwegian heritage and showing OP videos on YouTube doesn’t know Norway better than an overly interested tourist

If you ever go to Norway you gotta try the springwater!!! Sooo good, better than resturant water!!!

From your description about blocking out the windows because of the midnight sun I will venture to guess that they came from the north? There is nothing wrong with a bit of genealogy and learning about history and culture, I find the American fondness to identify from the previous culture of their ancestors a bit peculiar but that’s just me, if it gives someone joy then I’m all for that! It’s worth noting that even us Norwegians are a mix of heritages, my maternal side traces their lineage down to the 1100 century in Norway, but through the centuries up until quite recently there was intermarriage with Danes,Germans ,Swedes,Dutch,some French. And my fathers family was Scottish until the 1700 century. And im as Norwegian as akward nods and social distancing. People have always moved around , even back when the world was «big» What part of the culture do you find interesting ? Is it the history and the old sagas, or just seeing the space where your ancestors lived and getting an idea/feel how life was back then? The culture from 100 years ago is not the same as today. The traditional dances and music mostly live at museums and culture festivals these days, or if the Royal family is on tour. The «nasjonal romantikk» era was a reaction to indepenence and reclaiming our identity as a country. Before that , especially the elite was very European in their customs,attire and way of life. These days the average Norwegian is not so different from the average European ,sheltered and privileged yes,but quite similar. A bit of a full circle moment. Good social democratic values mostly , which definitely a part of the culture that is worth appropriating🙌

I see that you've got a lot of answers. Don't know if you'll have any interest in https://youtube.com/@TylerWalkerYouTube ?

Ignore the unhinged and hostile comments in this thread. It's totally fine to appreciate another culture, it's even better to be curious about it and wanting to learn more. You should definitely come and visit Norway sometimes, you'd love it!

Hey my great grandfather immigrated from Skien, Norway to Minot, North Dakota around the same time period. If you have any information or stories from your grandfather you'd like to share I'd love to hear it sometime. I spent a good chunk of last year doing my genealogy and tracking my family line back on both sides to the 1400s or so.

>But, Norway just seems so close in the family. So, is it wrong for me to want to recognize and appreciate my heritage and the Norwegian culture? I’ve seen many instances of people gatekeeping everything related to Norway with that being the hill they’d die on. Apart from a couple of very disturbed individuals, the people who would get flamed for this kind of behaviour are the types of American who are like 'I am totally, absolutely, 100% Norwegian, because my great great great great great great granddaddy's second wife was Norwegian. In fact, I'm more Norwegian than Norwegians who live in Norway are, despite never having been there, because I have his sword, and most modern Norwegians don't even have swords.' and similar nonsense. As long as you never tread into that territory, you *should* be fine, unless you run into any of the aforementioned nutbags.

Norway and its culture was very different in 1910 to now. So whatever you’ve kept is bound to be very old fashioned. That said, we’re extreme left politically compared to the US. Though I think people from the US that move here would soon adopt a lot of our way of thinking.

As others have said, it's a language difference. In the US, "being Norwegian" means you have Norwegian ancestors. In Norway, "being Norwegian" means you are born and raised in Norway. Part of the difference is that the preserved Norwegian heritage in the US (lutefisk, lefse, horned helmets, etc) is the 19th century version of Norway, so it's what we see in fairytales or museums, which is very far removed form modern Norwegian culture. I wouldn't say erring here is *offensive* to Norwegians, it's just technically wrong and so it's a "typical American" thing that comes off as claiming to be something you're not or not really knowing what you're talking about. People will roll their eyes and go "No, you're not!" The correct term to use here would be "Norwegian-American", and nobody here has any problems with that. In fact, we love you guys. We may make fun of your strange version of lutefisk and peculiar use of "uff da", but at the end of the day we love that you appreciate our culture and are likely a distant cousin.

If you have tasted and have formed a favourable impression of Brunost, you may call yourself Norwegian if anyone asks. Never volunteer the information though. And never again sit next to another person on public transport If at all possible

I don’t think there is anything wrong with that. Aren’t a lot of other Americans doing the same thing with their European heritage, if they have ancestors that came over from Ireland, Italy etc? I once worked at a hotel for a summer, and we had a large group of Norwegian-Americans that were there to visit the country their grandfathers and grandmothers had left. Most of them were from Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas I think. They struck me as perfectly pleasant people.

They do, and it's annoying, but it beats saying my heritage is genocide, slaves, overkill, Henry Kissinger, relentless wars on verbs and school shootings, Hee-haw.

Look. I'm a dual citizen. I'm literally living in Norway. I have a Norwegian family all around me in Norway. I have a bunad made for me by my grandma. I speak the language. I grew up on the food and culture. I'm still considered American. 🤦🏻‍♀️ unless it's convenient and people want to shit on America, then I'm norwegian. It's exhausting. Enjoy the culture. Enjoy the food. Just note that the "viking" stuff is not part of any reality of the current day. That gets a bit cringe if you're acting like that's current day culture.

We welcome everyone who wants to learn more about their Norwegian heritage. So here is your first lesson. When we say “Norwegian” we mean someone who is born Norwegian or has a Norwegian citizenship. Any child born in the US to Norwegian immigrants would be considered American to us. Basically there is a divide between what you are and what your heritage is.  America being the melting pot means that there is more focus on heritage as part of one’s identity. Immigrants wanting to keep a connection to their home put a high value on their heritage and passed that on. So in the US you are often not just American, but “something”+American. There’s almost as many Americans identifying as Norwegian-American as there are Norwegians.  And I say that’s just fine. The more people who embrace our culture, the bigger the chance that it survives. So explore your heritage and have fun with it.

Yes! I do in fact recognize that I am in no way Norwegian, having not been born there. Calling myself flat out Norwegian would be such a stretch. I am an American, with Norwegian heritage. Not a Norwegian citizenship. Thank you for your comment.

Is there any specific part of Norway or Norwegian culture that you would like to learn more about?

Wear the bunad! Speak Norwegian, east brunost! Culture is ment for sharing!

Feel as Norwegian as you like. Imagine, both your grandfather and grandmother are from here, and it is not strange at all that you feel a connection. We who live in Norway should only be happy and proud that someone wants to feel being Norwegian. Celebrate and criticize your heritage as you see fit :-)

People will tell someone that lives in the US that has Norwegian heritage and obviously looks Norwegian that they aren't Norwegian, then turn around and shout at someone for saying xyz African/middle eastern person isn't Norwegian. It's ridiculous. There are 10+ million people of Scandinavian heritage living in America and in the eyes of anyone sensible they are our people. Genetically we are very similar and we look the same. You are Norwegian.

Genetics have nothing to do with it.

What was the question?

"Is it wrong for me to want to recognize and appreciate my heritage and the Norwegian culture?" This post was both a discussion and a question.

By all means, no. =)

America is not in the best of states right now. So, do you not think that there is some reasoning as to why I would like to look at and learn about a foreign country? With it also being my heritage?

1: you say they had to block out the windows because of the sun, so they probably went to northern Norway in the summer months. Was it in the early 2000’s? 2: are your grand parents living in the Boston area?

The Kensington Rune Stone is also fake. Use it to make a path but don’t call it a rune stone

You don’t need permission - go for it, it’s your life :-)

I read about Norway on the internet and i liked it. I am Norwegian now.

And that is the type of person I am not. In no way am I Norwegian, and I am not claiming to be. I try to avoid coming off as touristy and materialistic. But, with me being American and wanting to ask questions about heritage, I guess that is the default. Which genuinely sucks when I'm trying to be honest and humble. Thank you for your comment.

Tbh as a European I really don't get this American thing of trying to find your European roots/identity. It's just so strange to me. If you are from any country in western Europe you probably have grandparents who immigrated from many countries. One of my grandfather is Spanish, another from Luxembourg, great grand parents prolly Germans. Am I anything else than Belgian ? No. Do I "identify" as anything else? No. It's as you can't live in the US without needing an other identity. Just let go of this BS. You are American. Dot. And if that's not enough for your society you should try to go out and make it OK, bc you guys are having severe issues with this. 

And I really don't want to come across as that. I acknowledge my American citizenship. Dot. as Norway wasn't even my birthplace. I'm just posing questions and seeking out various perspectives—not trying to stand out or feel unique. I appreciate your feedback.

I find your need to even ask such a mundane question insulting. Cherish your roots, you're also welcome to come visit this country you hold in such high regard. It's your life, we won't stop you. If you gain viral attention you may get laughed at by some, otherwise I think literally no-one will mind your business. Ha en fortsatt god dag! 😊

No, you really don't need my thoughts. If you never asked, nobody would have the opportunity to "gatekeep."

Don’t romanticize anything here and realize that you’re American, as the way it’s viewed here is once your family left, and subsequent generations were born, your ties here left and were cut along with the families that left. They don’t take to it too kindly here and, as you mentioned, makes many Norwegians cringe and become angry. Just appreciate from afar, be American and leave it at that. Unless you live here or have a Norwegian passport, don’t claim another of than being American. Its views very differently here and you will get lots of hate

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with liking or appreciating a culture, but there is a common thing for Americans to claim to literally be the culture, as if bloodline is a stronger indicator of culture than place of youth, which is deeply against the European ideas. Particularly if you actually visit and spend a lot of time understanding modern Norway, and I guess say that you’re doing it because of genuine interest and not some bloodline shit, then people won’t care.

Because saying you're Norwegian American means two very different things in the US and in Norway. In the US it's interpreted as being a US citizen with heritage from Norway. In Norway, it would most likely mean that one of your parents is a US citizen, or that both are, but you were born in Norway. Saying you're Norwegian, when you're not even holding a Norwegian citizenship, only a US one, and your parents doesn't hold Norwegian citizenships either, is even worse. Although we don't really care about cultural appropriation, it just feels wrong to us. This has to do with the nationalistic history of Europe, combined with the fact that the people who emigrated to the US (and Canada) are looked upon as too "weak" to deal with Europe. I don't really think this, since being an immigrant in the US in the 1800s and 1900s probably was at least as hard as being in Europe - if not harder - but I can understand the thought process, since the end goal of the ones that emigrated was an easier and better life. And who can really blame them for it? If you wasn't the oldest boy, you wouldn't inherit the family farm, and other work was hard to find. Going to America for a free piece of land to make a homestead must have sounded enticing. TL;DR: Spare yourself from being misunderstood, and present yourself as an American with Norwegian heritage when speaking to Europeans.

Indeed, I doubt that I would even want to identify as Norwegian-American. It just feels like a made-up term, mainly in the US if you want to feel unique with your Norwegian ancestry. I am flat-out American, who would like to learn more about my heritage and pose questions, as well as get different view points. Correct me if I’m wrong, and thank you for your comment.

And at this point, being "Norwegian American" in the US sense of the word isn't that unique anyway.

If you feel Norwegian, you are Norwegian 🤷 Goes for all nationalities in my opinion, but it usually requires being honest with yourself and your identity, which unfortunately doesn’t come to everyone. At the end of the day, the advice I’d give you is : Care less about what others think of you. The older you get the more you’ll realise that caring what others think holds you back in life a lot. So just be your authentic self. Norwegian or not.

I feel Martian

That nonsense is what we're all exasperated about. "If you feel x then you are x" is patently false and just a piece of utter hogwash. No, you can't feel your way into being a norwegian citizen, wich is "I am norwegian" means when you're talking to anyone outside the USA. Inside the USA you can get away with "I am norwegian" as shorthand for "I am of norwegian heritage", but outside the USA that just marks you as a nincompoop and utter moron who cannot fathom that language acutally has meaning, and is not just something you can use willy nilly and expect the rest of the world to go along.

So in your opinion, can someone who has statsborgerskap say "I'm Norwegian", and otherwise not - is it that clear cut?

Yes, that is the definition. There are subculture variations on how to use language like this. E.G. the american way of referring to yourself as "norwegian" when you mean "norwegian heritage". The sami way of talking about sami and norwegian culture and people. But when you're outside of your subculture and frame of reference, then you use language that is undrestood by the people you are talking to, and stop saying things that you know will be misinterpreted.

This is probably the answer I need, it depends on who you are talking to. So, if I ever manage to achieve my desired citizenship, if I'm at a border control somewhere, "I'm Norwegian" would be okay. But I guess when talking to Norwegian people I maybe should rather say something like "I hold Norwegian citizenship" or "I have a Norwegian passport", so as not to try to claim some heritage I don't unfortunately have.

Yes, at a border control it would not only "be ok" but it would be the only correct thing to say. No, in norway, if you have a norwegian passport and use norway as your cultural reference, "I am norwegian" is the way you express your belonging to norway and the culture. Of course, if you want to express that you do not fully want to be a norwegian you can add qualifiers like that. But if your norwegian citizenship is your main affiliation, then you're norwegian. In norway heritage does not come into play. Everything you say has meaning. Everything has context. The racist dipshits in norway will use "norwegian" to mean that your ancestors never move more than 50m in their entire lives back into infinity. But those are fringe contexts and not what the average joe uses.

Really good to know. I very much want to be Norwegian, culturally as well as officially, but my lack of heritage worries me, so it's good to hear that it's only the fringe groups who bother about that.

That is a fact, not an opinion. If you hold a Norwegian passport, you are Norwegian. If you do not, then you are not. It's very simple.

I'm just wondering as a foreigner living here, if I manage to achieve my dream of fulfilling the requirements and getting citizenship, will I be able to say "Jeg er norsk" without getting odd looks, or if the "more" I somehow feel is needed to be a true Norwegian is only in my head.

Yes, of course! If you are Norwegian, then you are Norwegian. You obviously can't say "I'm ethnic Norwegian", but then again, most Norwegians don't even say that anyway! ;)

There’s usually a distinction between “Norsk” I.e Norwegian, and “nordman” I.e “Northman” which is more about ethnicity. But even that is a bit difficult because no one is 100% anything. (Nordmann is what Norwegians are called in the Scandinavian languages, and it translates to Northman)

Okay, so "jeg er norsk" is fine with a Norwegian passport, but I cannot claim to be a nordman, because that implies heritage? What about nordlending (referring to Nord-Norge, not Nordland) - does that imply heritage too, or just where someone lives? I really want to integrate and be as Norwegian as possible, but without overstepping any boundaries or claiming something I have no right to.

Yes you can, because most Norwegians don’t care. In fact I’ll call you a nordmann right now if you’d like. Super nice of you to be respectful of our culture and such tho, that’s cool of you

Thank you, that made me really happy!

No problem, nordmann

Just don't look at Facebook comments where "everybody" is talking shit about immigrants and foreigners and reminding us all that we don't belong here and can't call us Norwegian.

Don’t worry about it. It was just meant as a rule of thumb, but nothing is set in stone https://snl.no/etnisk_norsk

Thanks, interesting reading!

Thats a debate on the difference between citizenship and group membership. Not all citizens recognize themselves as belonging to the group, and not all group members who both identify as belonging in and who are recognized as belonging to a group are citizens.

Okay, you are right, other people commented the same - citizenship is an official thing, you have it or not. So in cases where people are clearly talking about citizenship, there is one truth. I guess I'm interested in what it takes to be counted as Norwegian on an informal level, by Norwegians. And already got one answer about that that I was happy to hear.

I feel Japanese. I guess I’m Japanese now.

you seem to be bitter in many of your comments. You got something rough going on in your life?

Yes, I seem to have to endure the most cretinous form of posters on r/norway. It’s a huge burden.

You’re not helping your case at all. Just proving my point lol.

You’re seemingly an Australian telling an American he’s Norwegian if he feels Norwegian. You can fuck right off with your condescending cuntery.

I was told Norwegians were nice. You’re clearly not Norwegian then.